In his report, city manager Joe Pennachetti justified the proposal on benign grounds. He said the 13-member library board is one of several “fairly large” boards that would make decisions faster with fewer members.

He also said the board would be more effective if its balance of members was tilted in favour of citizens with “specialized expertise.”

But the mayor’s two most vocal councillor opponents on the board, Janet Davis and Sarah Doucette, believe the proposed change is an attempt by Ford to exact revenge for their efforts to fight budget cuts.

“The mayor, again, has demonstrated that people who oppose him will be punished. It’s punitive and anti-democratic,” Davis said.

Doucette spoke more cautiously, but she generally agreed that Ford was seeking to punish dissent. “It looks that way,” she said. “It might not be, but it definitely looks that way.”

Davis said she believes Ford also wants to reduce the number of councillors on boards for tactical reasons. At present, she said, there are too many board spots for Ford to fill them all with allies, forcing him to sometimes appoint critics.

But she and Doucette said Pennachetti had made a “mistake”: the library board can’t be shrunken until 2014. Pennachetti suggested council make changes to several boards halfway through the current council term, when many appointments expire, but the provincial Public Libraries Act requires that library board appointees sit for four years.

“I don’t think they’re going to be able to get rid of us,” Davis said.

A city spokesperson said Pennachetti would not comment until an executive committee meeting on Mar. 21. Ford’s spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Councillor Frances Nunziata, chair of the appointments committee, dismissed the accusation that Ford was trying to cleanse the board for political reasons.

“They’re gonna complain about everything, no matter what you do,” Nunziata said. “You could put 12 councillors on and they’d still complain. I don’t take their complaints too seriously.”

Councillor Michael Thompson said Ford simply wanted to give citizens a greater say in decision-making. He said Davis and Doucette’s claims were “beneath them.”

“It would be very unlike Joe Pennachetti” to make a recommendation intended to hurt Ford’s opponents, Thompson said.

The board is composed of eight citizens and five councillors. Pennachetti proposes a board of seven citizens and two councillors.

More on thestar.com

We value respectful and thoughtful discussion. Readers are encouraged to flag comments that fail to meet the standards outlined in our
Community Code of Conduct.
For further information, including our legal guidelines, please see our full website
Terms and Conditions.